Oil, nuclear, and coal are more popular with Republicans and in the South

by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist

PRINCETON, NJ -- No fewer than two in three Americans want the U.S. to put more emphasis on producing domestic energy using solar power (76%), wind (71%), and natural gas (65%). Far fewer want to emphasize the production of oil (46%) and the use of nuclear power (37%). Least favored is coal, with about one in three Americans wanting to prioritize its domestic production.

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As a hedge, wind may be the best friend natural gas has.

March 11, 2013

By Herman K. Trabish | Greentech Media

Commitment to wind by U.S. utilities leapt by 57 percent in 2012 and continues to grow.

The number of utilities that bought or owned wind projects grew from 42 in 2011 to 66 in 2012, according to the American Wind Energy Association AWEA) Q4 2012 report. More importantly, “the utilities that directly purchase or contract wind cover more than...   Read More »

March 15, 2013

An organic dairy farm in Minnesota has become a high-profile example of the tensions that can emerge as new transmission lines are built through the rural countryside.

The owners of Cedar Summit Farm, in the path of the CapX2020 transmission project, claim the line threatens their business and want Minnesota lawmakers to increase compensation for farms that choose to relocate away from power lines.

In an interview with Midwest Energy News, Cedar Summit sales and marketing manager...   Read More »

The Midwest’s electricity grid operator later this year is expected to add more than 15,000 miles of transmission and 30,000 megawatts of generation to its system overnight — at midnight, to be precise, on Dec. 18.

That’s the date MISO, pending a few remaining regulatory hurdles, will assume responsibility for operating the electric grid in much of Arkansas and Louisiana and parts of Texas and Mississippi.

The area’s transmission has been run since the 1950s by Entergy, a...   Read More »

In late December, a Department of Energy-funded planning group released a landmark report indicating that building out wind generation and associated transmission is more affordable over the long haul than continuing to rely mostly on coal and gas for supplying the eastern United States with electricity between now and 2030.

Also in December, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released a report with a detailed long-term assessment of generation and transmission needs for the Texas interconnection. Using recent real-world data on wind...   Read More »

According to FERC's Energy Infrastructure Update (pdf), 2012 saw more wind energy installed in the United States than any other generation resource. The report states that cumulative capacity installation of wind energy in 2012 was 10,689 MW. Natural gas was second with 8,746 MW. 

The total installed capacity of wind in the US now sits at 57.53 GW, which is 4.97% of total generation capacity in the nation. 

The Production Tax Credit for wind energy was extended through 2013 as part of the deal congress and the Obama Adminstration reached on the fiscal cliff. The PTC was given a 1-year extension, though a crucial change will allow all projects that begin construction in 2013 to receive the tax credit of 2.2 cent per kilowatt hour. Previously, a project was required to be completed and in operation to qualify for the PTC. 

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Highlights from the WOW Gala

Oh, what a night!  (Are you channeling that great song by The Four Seasons?)

A crowd of roughly 350 people enjoyed an incredible evening at the Holiday Inn Merchandise Mart on a date that will occur only once in a century – 12/12/12. 

The evening began with a Mayor’s Reception, sponsored by Invenergy, for nearly 200 highly influential members of the wind industry, state legislators from Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin, and leaders from the non-profit clean energy sector. After a short...   Read More »